The Air Force is currently about 1,500 pilots
shy of the 20,300 it is mandated to have. Of those missing,
about 1,000 are fighter pilots. Some officials have deemed the
shortage a “quiet crisis.”

“We anticipate that the Secretary of Defense will delegate the
authority to the Secretary of the Air Force to recall up to 1,000
retired pilots for up to three years,” Ross said.

President
Donald Trump meeting with US airmen and Air Force Chief of Staff
Gen. David L. Goldfein at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, September
15, 2017.(US Air Force photo by Scott
M. Ash)

Executive order 13223 declared a
temporary state of emergency after the September 11 attacks and
allowed the president to call up the National Guard, hire and
fire officers, and delay retirements. It has been renewed by
every president since, including Trump, but under the previous
version only 25 retired officers could to be called back to
active duty. Trump’s amendment expands that authority.

“The authorities available for use during a national
emergency … are also invoked and made available, according to
their terms, to the Secretary concerned, subject in the case of
the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, to the
direction of the Secretary of Defense,” the amended order
reads.

The Air Force has played a central role in the US-led
campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, flying most of the
combat sorties during the three-year-old effort. The intensity of the
operations has placed additional demands on the Air Force’s
pilots and aircraft, which are also seeing more duties in Europe
and Asia.

An
air crew in an 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron C-17
Globemaster III loadmaster prepare for takeoff before a mission
in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, at Al Udeid Air Base,
Qatar, August 23, 2017.(US Air Force
photo/Staff Sgt. Michael Battles)

Air Force officials have pointed to commercial airlines,
which pay more, as the main draw for fliers; budget cuts, longer
deployments, and long-term personnel drawdowns have also contributed to
more pilots leaving. (The service is also dealing with a shortage of
aircraft maintainers.)

The service is pursuing a bevy of changes to retain pilots
and airmen, including more flexible assignment policies,
increased pay and bonuses, and reshuffling of administrative
duties. Itis also looking to change its training
programs, potentially outsourcing some elements in order to
resolve a personnel bottleneck and free up Air Force aircraft for
other uses.

In August, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson announced the
Voluntary Rated Return to Active Duty, or VRRAD, program, which
allowed up to 25 retired qualified pilots to return to fill
“critical-rated staff positions” so active-duty pilots could stay
with units where they are needed to meet mission
requirements.

At least one Air Force officer has mentioned “stop-loss” policies
as a way to keep fliers in uniform.

The executive order the president signed on Friday is not
limited ot the Air Force, and it could allow other branches to
call up officers in the future.

Already the Air Force looks poised to take a greater role in
Afghanistan as part of Trump’s intensified campaign against
the Taliban and other insurgents there.

After the killing of four US soldiers in Niger, US
counterterror efforts look likely to expand around the
world.

“The war is headed to Africa,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Friday.
“It’s beginning to morph.” Graham added that US targeting of
terrorism suspects would become more aggressive and rules of
engagement would be changed. “As we suppress the enemy in the Mid
East, they’re going to move,” he said. “They’re not going to
quit.”